Typically, a selective call receiver, upon receiving a message, stores the message in memory for review at a later time. However, the number of message storage slots are limited. Thus, when the memory storage slots are full, the arrival of new messages may be stored at the expense of deleting older messages. One such method currently used is to delete the oldest message to accommodate a just received message. Unfortunately, if a user wishes to review an older message, it may have been automatically deleted.
Current integrated circuit technologies have increased memory capacity. As a result, selective call receivers can store more messages. This significantly reduces the need for automatically deleting messages. However, as the number of stored messages increases, the ease of managing the messages decrease, making it more difficult for selective call receiver users to retrieve or locate a desired message. Furthermore, because selective call receiver users tend to randomly read and delete messages, a just received message is usually placed in the first available memory slot. In this way, the incoming messages become randomly placed throughout the available message memory. Unfortunately, this method of storing incoming messages makes it difficult for selective call receiver users to distinguish between old and new messages. That is, selective call receiver users may not be able to easily determine the time priority of the received messages or where the latest received message was stored.
Thus, what is needed is a method for retrieving stored messages that enables a selective call receiver user to quickly and easily determine the time priority of the messages stored in memory.